


The Flight Of Max

by spellboundnora



Series: snapshots of three intertwining lives [3]
Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Abusive Parents, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempted Kidnapping, Blood, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, David's bipolar, Gen, Gwen has anxiety, Hospitals, Implied Drug Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Injury, Is that a crime?, Lying to hospital staff, Major Character Injury, Mild breakdowns, MomGwen, NOT m/a/x/v/i/d, Needles, Possible crimes, Running Away, a fucking lot, but she doesn't know about it yet, dadvid, david has it so fucking bad for gwen, i swear there's fluff eventually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-10 10:38:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15947657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spellboundnora/pseuds/spellboundnora
Summary: This was the last straw. There was no way he could stay here after this. So he decided to run away. Go to the house of the only adult who's ever cared about him. It'll be easy, he knows the street he lives on. He'll just take a bus, and wander around until he figures out which house belongs to him. Too bad things are never as easy as they seem.





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She wanted Max out of the house, but since he'd been suspended, he had nowhere to be. Until he decided he wasn't coming back. Then he thought of somewhere.

I was baking when she came back. Chocolate chip cookies, like the kind she used to make for me whenever I’d had a bad day when I was little. She hasn’t made them in a long time. She hasn’t baked anything in a long time, not since dad left. I do most of the cooking, and all of the baking, in this house now. And by most of the cooking, I mean if I don’t make dinner, I eat ramen, or canned soup. But she doesn’t like it when I don’t make dinner for her, even though it’s usually long cold by the time she gets home and I have to reheat it for her. But I never really minded. Of all the things I had to do around the house, cooking was by far my favorite. As long as she wasn’t home, I could put on some music and just take control of the kitchen. It was always fun for me, trying new flavor combinations, testing to see which sauces are improved by adding which vegetables. I was usually too busy to bake, though. I would only If I had enough free time after finishing my homework, and I was having a really stressful day, like I had today. Baking always calmed me down. Unlike cooking where my recipes were ever-changing and fluid, everything in baking seemed set in stone to me. If you wanted something to come out perfectly, you had to follow the recipe exactly. No room for experimenting, which seems boring, but I always found it stress-relieving to just go with the rules and not have to worry about adding my own spin to it. Funny how that was, because the rules of baking seemed to be the only rules I’d ever follow.

Like earlier today, when a kid called me a slur so I punched him in his dumb fucking face. Cue trip to the office, disappointed look from the secretary, pissed off look from the principal, five tries at calling her, all of which failed. I told him that she had her phone stolen, but because he thinks of me as nothing but a troublemaker, he didn’t believe me without trying first. At this point, she hasn’t picked up more times than she has when called by the principal. Mostly because she gets too high or drunk to realize her phone is going off, though this time she actually had her phone stolen, sort of. And by stolen, she gave it to a drug dealer for more of whatever shit she’d decided to get addicted to this time. I tried not to pay too much attention to her drug habits. It wouldn’t matter if I knew what she was taking or not, so why care? But after the principal failed to contact her, he gave me a disappointed look and sentenced me to three days suspension for “inciting violence,” and said, “he hoped that this would teach me a lesson and that he would stop seeing me in his office.” I doubt either of us believed any of that. I used to act out in a futile attempt to get any kind of fucking attention from her after dad left and she spent all of her time day-drinking on the couch watching trashy reality shows and wishing she was a Kardashian or whatever. Once alcohol wasn't good enough for her anymore, at least not by itself, she stopped caring whether I’d get in trouble or not. She stopped caring about me at all. But by then I had a reputation, and I couldn’t exactly go back to being a good kid, because I wasn’t one anymore. I knew that even if I tried my fucking hardest to try to go back to the way things were, my teachers would always see me as a troublemaker, and if I stopped having a reputation of fighting back against those who angered me, it was just going to invite bullies to make my life hell. So I made my life hell by myself because if I’m going to do something, I’m doing it by my own damn terms.

She burst through the door as I was putting the cookies in the oven. She was clearly drunk this time, which worried me a little, because at least when she was high, she’d be so distracted by whatever was going on in her fantasy land to give a shit about me. When she was drunk, she just got angry at insignificant things and try to find any way to blame me for her life problems.

“What kind of fucking music are you playing in there? It’s giving me a migraine, turn it off.”

“Sure, whatever.” I walked over to the small radio I had playing my favorite station, a Hindi station from the city that just barely reached our neighborhood on the outskirts, and shut it off. I liked it because it reminded me of my dad’s family who lived in India. I’d never met them, but I had video chatted with his mom once, way back before he left. She talked about how it would be Diwali soon and seemed offended when I didn’t know what that was. She then proceeded to scold my dad about not raising me Hindu, and tell him loudly that if he had to have married a foreigner, then he should at least make sure his son is a proper Indian man. The conversation didn’t last long after that. Honestly, with all of the berating from his family about not marrying Indian and having a mixed child, even though I didn’t look it and everyone’s first guess when they saw me with my mom, was that I was adopted, plus my mom’s steady spiral into alcoholism after finding out she wouldn’t be able to have a second child, I’m not surprised he left four years ago. God, I can’t believe it’s been four years since he just disappeared, no note or anything, with all of his shit and half of the family savings.

She startled me out of my zoned out state. “Max, I said bring me a bottle of whiskey, you little shit. Are you fucking deaf?”

I almost snapped and told her to get off her ass and get it herself, but I didn’t want to set her off yet. I already knew she wouldn’t be happy that I was suspended, because that would mean she couldn’t bring over tons of people to do drugs with in the living room, or random dudes to fuck. I’d walked in on both of those happening, and the aftermath usually entailed lots of yelling directed at me, and sometimes getting hit. She’d never hurt me that badly, only slapping or sometimes bruising me, and she didn’t usually leave marks, or if she did, it wasn’t in places people would see. I still have burns on my upper arms from when she tried quitting hard stuff once and was only smoking cigarettes. I haven’t worn anything with short sleeves outside of the house since then. She was so irritable back then, so prone to lashing out due to withdrawal, that I was almost happier when she gave up, though it did make me a little sad because she would say that once she was “okay” again we could be a proper family again. That she was getting better for me. I should’ve never believed her, I don’t know why I was so fucking naive back then.

I quickly set the timer for the cookies, so I knew when to take them out of the oven, and shouted to her that I was coming. Grabbing the bottle of Heaven Hill bourbon from the counter, I brought it into the living room where she was sprawled out on the couch with an empty bottle in her hand. I couldn’t tell what it was, but I assumed it was some kind of alcohol. God, she looked shit-faced already. Well, I may as well tell her now, there’s no use in waiting until she’s sober because that won’t happen for a while.

“Here’s your whiskey. Oh, by the way, I got suspended from school so I’ll be here for three days.”

“No you fucking won’t! I have people coming over tomorrow, and you will not be here for that.”

“I’ll just be in my room, it’s not like I’m going to bother you. Plus, whatever you’re doing with these people you probably already do around me anyways. I’m not a little kid anymore, I know how you spend your time.”

“I have a reputation to uphold! I’m not going to let some fucking kid ruin that for me. These are important people, and I’m not going to have you hanging around causing trouble. You’ll be out of this house tomorrow morning and not come back until Wednesday afternoon if you know what’s good for you!”

I guess I’m not the only one with a reputation then. These people must be some “high-class” dealers, or maybe just other users she’s desperate to befriend. I don’t have anywhere to spend a day and a half, it’s not like I have friends whose houses I can sleep over at, or at least not any near here. I have Nikki and Neil from the summer camp she’s been shipping me off to for the last four years so she can do drugs in peace for a few months, but they live halfway across the state. I have no one at this school. People mostly ignore me, though a few torment me and a few others fear me. No one wants anything to do with me.

“Where am I supposed to go while you laze around and do drugs with your precious fucking friends? Last time I checked nobody cares about me, not even you! I’m just a nuisance! I don’t have any friends I can stay with, because I’m not a normal kid! Because you fucked me up!”

I knew as soon as the words came out of my mouth that I shouldn’t have said them. She’d go off on me for sure, and I knew this time it would probably get physical. But I didn’t anticipate the empty bottle in her hand to come flying towards me. It struck me in the thigh and broke upon impact and a large shard impaled itself in the flesh right below where the shorts I was wearing ended, while she screamed about how I should never talk to her like that. Pain seared through me, though I doubt she even noticed. I felt tears well up and knew I had to get out of the situation before it worsened. I ran as best I could into my room, with a sharp stabbing pain every time I moved coming from my wound. I had a first aid kit in my closet just in case it ever got too bad. I’d mostly only had to use the Advil to lessen the pain from bruises she’d given me, but I knew there was gauze and bandages in there. Once I got to my room, her yelling still in the background, I grabbed the first aid kit and got to work. I wasn’t sure whether to leave it in or not, but it was glass and it probably still had whatever was in the bottle in the first place on it, so I figured I should take it out. With my hands shaking, I took hold of the glass and pulled it out, hissing in pain and desperately trying not to scream. Luckily for me, it wasn’t too deep in my leg, but it started bleeding as soon as I took the shard out. I quickly unwrapped some gauze and tore off a piece large enough to cover the wound, and pushed down on it, remembering an action movie I’d watched where a character got stabbed and someone told him he needed to apply pressure to it to stop the bleeding. Thankfully it didn’t bleed through the gauze, so after a minute or two, I took some of the roll of bandage and taped the gauze to my skin. I took three Advil from the half-empty bottle and sat back, trying to stave off the panic that was threatening to overtake me. What if I had to go to the hospital? What if I needed stitches? The wound didn’t look big enough to need stitches, but I didn’t know much about that kind of stuff. I couldn’t think of any excuse I could give a hospital for me walking in, alone, with a stab wound, that wouldn’t end up with the CPS called on her. And if that happened I’d end up in foster care, and I’d heard all kinds of horror stories about the abuse and molestation that awaited any poor kid that ended up in the foster care system. 

She was pretty bad, but at least I knew her ways. Or I thought I did. I hadn’t seen this coming at all. Usually, if she got it into her to hit me, she’d stagger over and try to do it herself, which I could sometimes dodge when she was this shit-faced. I noticed something dripping onto my hoodie and realized I was crying. God, I don’t know what to do. I can’t stay here anymore. Something about this just seemed so final, I just can’t do this anymore. I need to get out of here before she does something worse. I’ve had an emergency pack, an old backpack with fifty bucks, two changes of clothes, a spare toothbrush, and a few granola bars and other snacks since the withdrawal days, but I’ve never left because I don’t have anywhere to go. I’ve known that if I set out without a destination I’d just get picked up by the police for wandering the streets and delivered back here to face more punishment. I thought as hard as I could about someone, anyone, who would take me in and not just send me back, plus who I could get to by either walking or taking buses. Nikki and Neil were too far away, there probably wouldn’t be any buses running that far, and I don’t know anyone else from camp well enough to show up at their house, plus I don’t know where any of them live. Think, Max, think! God, there’s got to be someone! Someone has to care about me, right?

And then it hit me. Someone I could trust, who lives directly in the city, not too far from where I live, on the outskirts. There would probably be a bus taking me near his place, or maybe I’d have to take a few buses, but I had enough money to get there. David. I’d found his address back when I stole his phone last summer to set up a Tinder for him as a prank, not remembering exactly how old he was, since he’d never mentioned it, and figuring he’d be the kind of dork to put all of his information in his contacts. And I was right. There too was his address. I tried to remember exactly where he lived, but all I could remember was that he lived on Pine Avenue because I thought it was too cliche to be real back then, but had looked it up, and I think it was somewhere in the suburbs. I thought about how bad my life must be if I was honestly thinking about running away to live with David. I couldn’t deny I appreciated him for things he’d done for me over the past few summers, especially after finding out that my situation at home was shit, but I had to be on her levels of drugs to be considering this kind of thing. We’d come to a sort of truce at the end of last summer, with me trying to be less of a little shit and him not trying to get me to open up about things at home. But if I lived with him? I’d just fuck him up like I fuck everything up. God, he probably wouldn’t even want me to live with him. He’s too good of a person to deserve having me in his life any more than he has to. But I know he won’t turn me away, at least not immediately, because he knows about some of the shit that goes on here. And he’s honestly my only option at this point. I’m not staying here any longer, because who knows what’ll happen if I’m here tomorrow when has a bunch of druggies over that she’s trying to impress? I still don’t know why she cared so much about me being gone, but it doesn’t matter anymore. I’m going to be gone, except I’ll be gone for good. A small, twisted part of me thought I might miss her, because she is the only family I have, but for all she’s done, I’ve stopped calling her my mom as much as I can, because she’s not a mom anymore. Moms care about you, moms cook dinner and help with homework instead of going to bars or getting high. Moms don’t exchange their phones for drugs. And moms don’t hurt their kids, moms love them. Now, she’s just someone who was married to my dad for a while, she’s almost like a fucking roommate these days. Just because we’re related by blood, doesn’t mean we have to be family.

The Advil must have kicked in at some point during my crisis, as I realized I wasn’t in as much pain as I was earlier. I decided to check on my leg, peeling the bandage off my skin and lifting the gauze off. It had stopped bleeding, which was good, but it was covered in dried blood now, and I knew I needed to wash it off. I stood up and grabbed the first aid kit, feeling the pain sear through me again, but thankfully I didn’t start bleeding again. I crept out of my room and into the bathroom, noticing that she was still sprawled on the couch, and appeared to be drinking the bottle of whiskey I had given her while watching TV. Good, she probably wouldn’t notice me go back to my room then. I gently washed off the blood on my leg, hissing at the stinging of the wet paper towel on my wound. I noticed it was bleeding a little bit still, but figured it was from all of the moving around I was doing. I re-bandaged my leg, already feeling better about my situation. It hit me that I was actually going to get out of here, hopefully for good. As long as David lets me stay with him.

I walked back to my room, starting to adjust to the pain that would shoot through me any time I’d move my injured leg. I needed to change out of my shorts. Couldn’t have anyone noticing I was injured and asking too many questions. I put on a pair of jeans, and my favorite blue hoodie, because it’s getting dark out and might get cold, even though it’s only September. I grabbed my emergency bag and examined the contents. Oh yeah, everything in here is from a year and a half ago. The clothes are too small for me now, and the snacks have all gone bad. I threw out the snacks and put the clothes in my closet, searching for some that would fit. I grabbed a few t-shirts, a pair of shorts and another pair of jeans, and a backup hoodie, just in case something happens to mine, plus Mr. Honeynuts, the stuffed bear I’ve had since I was a baby. I couldn’t sleep well without him, so he was obviously a necessity, even though I was embarrassed that I still needed him. A few more things from my drawers shoved hastily into my bag later, and the only things I need are my mp3 player and earbuds, which are in my regular backpack by the kitchen table, where I was doing homework earlier, some food, and my radio if it’ll fit. I hope it will, it’s just a small battery powered one, but it’s not a big deal if it doesn’t. I’m sure where I’m going will have radios, it just has sentimental value as my dad gave it to me for my sixth birthday, the last one he was here for. He left a few months afterward. Food will be the hardest to find, as I know we don’t have a ton of snacks right now, but my plan is just to take whatever we have that will be easy to eat. Plus, I suddenly remembered, I was in the middle of making cookies. And judging by the fact that she hasn’t screamed at me to shut the timer off, they should still be cooking. They shouldn’t have long to go, as I’m sure this has taken more time than it seems. It feels like everything happened in five seconds and five hours at the same time, but in reality, since the timer hasn’t gone off, it couldn’t have been more than twelve or fifteen minutes. I grabbed my bag and went out into the kitchen. I didn’t focus too much on being silent, as she appeared to still be watching TV. I quickly fished my earbuds and mp3 player out of my school backpack and put them in my other bag and looked at the timer. It only had two minutes left, and I decided to start grabbing a few things from the pantry, just in case I got hungry on the bus, or it took longer than I thought to locate David. I did only know the street he lived on. I’d just have to hope there would be some way to figure out which house was his. After thoroughly raiding the pantry, I turned the timer off and took the cookies out of the oven. Usually, I’d let them cool for a while, but I didn’t have time for that. I scooped the hot cookies into a Tupperware container and put it into my bag. The bag was almost completely full, but somehow, my radio just fit. I zipped it up and put it on. This was it. I walked into the living room where she was half conscious, still shit-faced with a now empty bottle of whiskey near her, watching reality TV.

“Hey! Wake up. You want me gone before your big drug party tomorrow? Fine. I’m going. Goodbye.”

I heard her mutter a goodbye along with a string of curses, and I walked out the front door. No turning back now. To the bus station, and from there, to David’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Max almost never calls his mother "Mom," even in his head, because he doesn't feel like she acts like enough of a mother to deserve it. So you'll see him just say "her," in the future, and if he's not talking about some other woman that he's interacting with, that means he's talking about his mother.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max meets a stranger who seems oddly familiar. For some reason, his head is fuzzy and he can't focus around him, but this guy is definitely giving him some creepy vibes.

I didn’t live too close to anything significant, as it goes when you live in a low-income, drug-filled neighborhood, so the nearest bus station was a ten-minute walk away. I knew this because it was usually my only way to get to Saturday detentions- she hadn’t had a car in a long time, so if I needed to get somewhere farther than our neighborhood, and there were no school buses coming for me, I had to use the regular buses. I didn’t need to very often beside for Saturday detentions, so I didn’t know the routes well except for the one to the school, but I did know they had a huge map in the station of all of the routes, so I figured I’d be able to find one. I pulled my mp3 player and earbuds out and started my walk. Hood up, back straight, eyes forward, look like you know exactly where you’re going. Look like you have a purpose and you won’t get stopped, at least not usually. I was a little worried about getting questioned by a cop, as it was after dark, and I look younger than I am because of my height, though technically I am young enough for a cop to be concerned that I was out without supervision. But cops didn’t patrol this neighborhood very often, because they didn’t really care about a few junkies getting high off their asses and laying on the sidewalk.

I made it to the station without incident, though there was one guy who motioned me to come to him, probably wanting to sell me something, but I ignored him, keeping on with my earbuds in but no music playing. I’d found that was the best way to walk, looking like you’re ignoring everything, but still being able to tell what’s going on in case someone decides to sneak up on you or pickpocket you. In the station I gazed up at the map of the bus routes through the entire city, and realized, shit, everything’s a lot bigger than it seems. I stared at the thing for at least five minutes, trying to find Pine Avenue and failing because god, there’s so many streets in the city and everything’s in such small print I could barely read the names. I did come up with an alright alibi in case anyone asked where I was going or what I was doing alone: I was going to visit my uncle in the city because my mom is sick and wanted me to stay with him for a few days so that I didn’t catch it. It wasn’t the best story, but I decided it should be enough to dissuade anyone from getting too suspicious.

And then I noticed someone approach me out of the corner of my eye. White guy, blond hair, probably mid-twenties. Looks like an off-brand version of David. Seeing him gave me a strange feeling, as if I knew him from somewhere, but I rationalized that it was probably just his similarity in looks to David. Even if I had seen him somewhere, I have too many things on my mind to care about that right now. My only goal is to get on the right bus. He got to the map and stood beside me, and I kept quiet, hoping he was just searching for the correct route to take like me, and would leave me alone, but unfortunately, after a minute he opened his mouth. 

“Hey there kiddo, you’ve been here for a while, are you lost? I know these routes pretty well, I can help you get to wherever you should be going.”

Okay, he even sounds like David. This is beyond weird, but I sure as hell wasn’t getting anywhere with staring at this map, so I didn’t really have anything to lose from him helping me. I played up the innocent kid act and started my story. My head felt really fuzzy and it was hard keeping the act up, but I did.

“Oh yeah, I would really appreciate some help. My mom sent me to visit my uncle for a little while because she’s sick, and I don’t remember which routes she said I need to take. I’ve been looking at this map for a really long time, but I can’t seem to find the street he lives on. Can you please help me find it? It’s Pine Avenue.”

I even put on the innocent puppy-dog eyes as I looked up at him. That’s bizarre, he’s wearing all white. Is he some kind of youth minister or something? I felt a sharp pain in my head. Great, the last thing I needed was a splitting headache right now. This guy is already annoying me with his condescending tone like I’m some kind of helpless child.

“Sure little fella, that’s actually where I’m going too! I live on that street! I wonder if I know your uncle? Well, it’s just the orange line until Brook Street, and then we transfer to the blue line for three stops, and then the green line for four and there we are! Since I’m going there too, you should just come with me! Traveling all alone can be pretty dangerous for a kid, and I don’t want to see you miss your stops!”

Wait, what was I thinking, this was a terrible idea! I don’t like the vibes this guy gives off, and now I’m stuck with him because I can’t think of a single thing to say that would get me away from this situation without making him suspicious. Fuck, he’s probably going to kidnap me and sell me on the black market. Why did I think I could trust an adult? I panic and the first excuse I have comes out of my mouth.

“Uh, thanks for that, but I, um, have to go to the bathroom! So you can just go now, wouldn’t want to make you miss the next train and have to wait!”

His smile grows uncomfortably wide and his eyes narrow. This guy is definitely a creep.

“Don’t worry about me, I just want to make sure you’re… safe. So I’ll wait here for you. I don’t mind missing the next train.”

Fuck, that didn’t work. I bolted to the bus station bathrooms anyways, so I’d have somewhere to come up with a better plan and stave off the panic that’s currently threatening to consume me. Sitting in the stall, I start to overthink before I can stop myself. I should’ve never left. I should’ve known that it wouldn’t be easy to get to David’s house. And now I’m never going to get there because this creep is going to kidnap me and do who knows what else. Whatever he wants with me, I know his intentions are not innocent. There’s no way this guy is just a normal do-gooder because those kinds of people don’t exist in the real world. Nobody actually wants to help you out of the kindness of their heart, they all have some kind of underlying reason. I can’t believe I let myself think that there were genuinely good people in the world. I was just spoiled by the idea of David, the idea of actually getting to a refuge, that I allowed it to cloud my judgment. God, I probably recognize him because I’ve seen him on the news for child murder or something. 

Well, I got myself into this mess, I can get myself out of it. If he tries anything on the bus I’ll just scream, or punch him. I’m sure I can do some damage, even without my knife. I wish it hadn’t been taken away last week after they found it in my backpack at school. It was the only thing protecting me from fuckers like him on the streets. Suddenly, I felt like I couldn’t concentrate on anything. I may as well get this over with. I’m sure he won’t try anything on the bus, right in public.

I left the bathroom and immediately saw him across the station, staring in my direction. So even if I had bolted, he would’ve seen me. That’s distressing. I wondered how long he’d been watching the bathroom door as I made my way over to him. I decided I didn’t want to know.

“Hey, there you are! You’re lucky, the next orange bus is leaving in a minute, if we hurry we can get there in time!”

I said nothing but followed him to get a ticket and wait for the bus. When it arrived and we boarded, he patted the seat next to him as if to tell me to sit there. I sat next to him, though I wasn’t sure why. And then he started making small talk. Probably just trying to find out as much information as he could so he’d know if anyone would notice if I mysteriously disappeared. I engaged him, half out of fear, half out of boredom.

“Oh, I just realized I never introduced myself! I’m Daniel! I’m a public speaker on how you can cleanse yourself from negative emotions! I’m actually just coming back from a seminar now!”

Daniel. That name sounded even more familiar, and I started to worry that I actually had seen him on the news. Wait. Daniel, looks like a David ripoff, all white clothes, way happier than anyone should be, cleansing of negative emotions, general creepiness. He was the crazy cult leader that tried to kill all of us at camp last summer! Fuck. I kind of can’t believe I didn’t recognize him earlier, but to be fair, crazy shit happens all the time at camp. No one died or even got gravely injured that day, so it wasn’t even the most memorable thing that happened last summer. I have no idea if he recognizes me or not though. I decided that if I was already fucked, I may as well see if he knows me.

“My name is Michael.”

His eye twitched, but he acted like nothing was wrong with what I’d said, so it was hard to tell if it was just general creepiness or annoyance from knowing that I was lying. We continued to make small talk for the train ride, him continuing to be weird but not creepy enough to alert any other passengers that something was wrong. He’d grab my hand almost forcefully when we’d transfer lines and my leg would burn with pain when being dragged along, but nothing big happened and I was almost ready to stand up and ask him when he was going to cut the act and kill me. Realistically, I knew that he’d probably wait until there weren’t any witnesses, but he was freaking me out. My plan was to try to get out of his hold and run off as soon as we reached Pine Avenue and run as far as I could, try to find somewhere to hide or something. It was a terrible plan, but my brain was absolutely refusing to concentrate enough for me to form something well thought out because my mind felt weirdly clouded over. I could see the thoughts float by in my head, but I couldn’t really grab onto them long enough to process them.

Finally, we reached the right stop, according to Daniel at least, who stood up and grabbed my hand, dragging me out of the bus. I hadn’t been able to pay attention to anything, with thoughts swarming around my head about how I was going to be killed if I didn’t figure out how to get far far away from him. As we crossed the station, I noticed the letters on the wall that spelled out Christopher Street. Fuck, of course he had no intention of taking me to the right place, he was obviously going to take me back to his house and murder me. I don’t know why I thought he’d take me where I actually wanted to go. I tried to wriggle out of his grip, but he was too strong. My head was pounding. Once we left the station, I confronted him.

“That wasn’t the Pine Avenue station, that said Christopher Street.”

“Oh Michael, are you really that gullible? Or should I call you by your real name instead, Max?”

Well, that answered one question. So I am totally fucked.

“Oh Max, I never expected to see you at the station. Funny, the kind of coincidences the world gives you. But that was no coincidence, that was Xemüg giving me a sign. ‘It is time to take revenge on the one who prevented the ascension of all of those children those months ago.’ And I always listen to Xemüg, Max. But no, I’m not going to allow you to ascend. That would be too good for you. You have too many negative emotions, you’re too toxic for that. But I think you’d make a wonderful sacrifice. Xemüg will appreciate feeding on your soul.”

And that was just what I needed to hear for my adrenaline to take over and stop me from spacing out like I’d been doing the whole ride. So with that, I swung around so that I was facing him and before he could react, I kicked him in the dick. I used the moment of surprise to break out of his grip and started sprinting. I wasn’t as fast as I could be, and didn’t have nearly enough stamina because of the pain searing through my body from my earlier wound. It felt like that had happened days ago, but it was only a few hours. While running, I scanned the neighborhood, trying not to pay too much attention to him yelling hysterically and coming after me. I needed to get to somewhere with witnesses, or else I needed to lose him. I glanced back at him and noticed he was gaining on me, his legs much longer than mine, so that option was out. I saw a 7-11 in the distance and came up with a plan on the fly. I had no idea if it would work, my brain still spacey and the pure fear of death at the forefront of it, but I put it into action anyways. I used all of my remaining energy to get farther ahead of him and soon burst through the automatic doors of the convenience store, attracting the attention of the bored teenage girl working as the cashier. I jumped behind the counter and whisper-shouted to her to hide me, pulling my most scared look, which wasn’t hard, because I was fearing for my life. She looked down at me hyperventilating, out of breath, and crouching on the ground, trying to make my form as small as possible. Her look of shock and suspicion turned to a look of determination.

“Move over then, you’re in front of a glass display. Sit over there in the corner and no one should be able to see you. Who are you hiding from? Actually, never mind, it’ll probably make it easier for me to not know, in case it’s a legal thing.”

I complied, flashing her a shaky smile. I was incredibly surprised that my plan worked, I honestly figured whoever was working there would call the cops, or just turn me over into Daniel’s custody once he got in here. Teenagers are usually cooler with this kind of thing than adults, so I was lucky that she was working and not some old person who would think I was going to rob them.

After a minute or two, I heard the automatic doors slide open. Daniel was here. I concentrated on the sound of his footsteps to try to get a feel of where he was going, a skill I had learned trying to avoid her back at home when she was in a bad mood, and it sounded like he was going away from me, so I figured he was searching the store for me. A few minutes later, I heard him come towards the counter, and start talking.

“Hello Miss, have you seen a small boy come in here? Black hair, wearing a blue hoodie? He’s my son and I’m looking for him. He always likes to play these little games of hide and seek, running away from me. If he asked you not to tell anyone where he was, please tell me, because I know he takes his games seriously, but it’s getting late, and I need to put him to bed.”

Wow, he was really laying on the charm there. I hoped to everything she wouldn’t believe him and give me away. Thankfully, she either saw through him, or didn’t care enough, as her voice was completely deadpan.

“Nope. You’re the first person to come in here in like, an hour.”

“Nonsense! I saw him come in here! You must have seen something! Please, he’s my son, I don’t know what I’d do if I lost him.”

“I don’t know, maybe he came in and left again. I didn’t see anything. You need to keep better track of your kid.”

“Max! I’m going to find you if it takes me all night!” He yelled, before footsteps took him away from the counter and I heard the doors open and shut. He’d left. I was safe.

The cashier waited a moment before turning to face me, a small smile on her face.

“God, that guy’s a psycho. You alright there little dude?”

I felt tears of relief well up as it hit me how close I’d become to being another one of Daniel’s kills. I nodded and stood up, wincing as my injured leg decided to hit me with all of the pain my adrenaline had mostly blocked out while running.

“Are you hurt? What did he want with you? I can take you to the police if you want, but I get it if that’s not the best idea.”

“I’m a little hurt, but not from him.” My voice was really shaky, even to me. “You probably won’t believe me, but he tried to kidnap me after we ended up at the same bus station because I fucked something up for him a few months ago, but I didn’t recognize him until it was too late. The police probably wouldn’t help much in this situation. But, do you know where Pine Avenue is? That’s where I’m trying to get to.”

“Oh wow, that’s fucked up, but I believe you. You see a lot of weird shit working the night shift at a 7-11. Plus, I’ve seen that motherfucker before, he always creeped me the hell out. Uh, Pine Avenue. Let me check my phone, I know it’s not too far from here but I can’t remember what direction.”

She pulled out a smartphone and looked it up while I tried to compose myself. I couldn’t cry here. Not now, when I was so close to getting to safety.

“Okay. I found it.” She crouched down so she was at my height and showed me a map. It was only half a mile away. I could actually make it.

“Do you sell knives here? I need something to protect myself in case he finds me again.”

She took a Swiss Army knife out of her pocket and put it in my hand.

“Here. We don’t sell any knives, but you can have this. It’s just a standard one, it’s probably not the best weapon, but it’s better than nothing.”

Now I was going to actually cry. After all this, she gives me her knife too?

“Thank you,” I glanced at her name tag, “Carmen.”

“Hey, it’s no problem little dude, I’ll just pick up another one tomorrow. Max, was it?”

“Yeah. God, just thank you for everything. I had almost no plan coming in here, just pure hope, and I’m so lucky you’re a decent person.”

She smiled. “Decent person, at your service. See you around, dude.”

I walked out of the shop and into the night, setting off towards Pine Avenue.

It was a weirdly nice neighborhood I was walking through. I didn’t think the profession of cult leader paid that well, but it must have if Daniel lived here. But I tried not to think too much about Daniel. I was afraid that if I really stopped to ponder today’s events, I’d break down and wouldn’t be able to get back up for a while. And so I pushed most of my emotions to the side, trying to remind myself that I was nearly to David’s house. My plan had been so simple at the beginning- gather what I need from the house, take the bus, and find David’s place. I didn’t think it would end up being this complicated. But nothing is ever as simple as it seems. 

Since I wasn’t letting my brain overthink about the past, it decided to overthink about the future. So as I walked through the suburban neighborhood, I wondered what would happen when I got to David’s house. What if he wasn’t home? What if he’d moved in the months since I’d seen him? He would’ve mentioned something about moving during camp though, right? He might not have, he never talks about his life outside of camp. I know as much about him as he knows about me, which isn’t a lot. I just had to hope that he’d still be there, and that I’d be able to find his house. Oh shit, how am I going to find his house? I can’t just knock on every door until he answers, it’s the middle of the night. I decided I’d worry about the logistics of finding him once I got to his street. Instead I’d just worry about everything else after that. What if I was wrong, and he wouldn’t take me in? God, I’m so fucking selfish for doing this. He won’t want me, he’ll take me in out of guilt. He doesn’t deserve this, I’d just ruin his life. But it’s my only option. It’s been my only option from the start, and even if he turns me away or tries to get rid of me, I’m not going to give up until I get there. But it’s David, he’s not going to turn me away.

And so I cycled back and forth between thinking David is too nice to not take me in, to feeling shitty because I’d be guilting him into doing it, to feeling shittier and thinking that he should turn me away, to getting scared that he would, all the way back to the beginning. Until I saw a street sign that read Pine Avenue. And realized I was on a street full of apartment buildings. I was so fucked. I walked into the first one I saw, and thankfully, there was a clerk there.

“Hello, how may I help you?”

I approached her desk and started my alibi.

“Is there a David Norwood here? He’s my uncle, and my mom sent me to visit him since she’s sick and can’t take care of me, but I can’ t remember his address. I only know he lives on this street.”

He’d never mentioned his last name, but it was a part of his contact information that was supposed to be for parents that I read over, knowing I would be the only one to, before I went to my first year of camp.

“No, I’m sorry, we don’t have a David Norwood. Good luck finding him!”

I left the building and started at the next one. And then the next. And the next. By the time I got to the fifth apartment building, my leg was aching and I felt like I was never going to find him, except-

“Yes, we have a David Norwood. I’m not technically supposed to give out renters’ addresses, for legal reasons, but I’ll make an exception for you, since he’s your uncle and all. He’s on the fifth floor, number 513.”

I couldn’t believe it. I’d found him. I thanked her and walked over to the elevator. This was it. I rode up to the fifth floor. I wondered what his apartment looked like. I hoped he was home. I stepped out of the elevator and walked to number 513. And I hesitated. Was I really doing this? Was I really going to ask David, the permanently happy camp counselor who I only got along with in fleeting moments, if he would let me stay with him? When I thought about it like that, it seemed stupid as fuck. But as I had been telling myself this whole time, he was my only option. I knocked on the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason Max isn't thinking straight around Daniel is because of when he was brainwashed when Daniel was at camp, by the way. It still affects him a little bit. Daniel expected it to affect him a lot more than it did, which is why he was so careless with what information he gave out on the train. Max had a stronger mind than he anticipated, plus he only spent enough time in the purification sauna to convince David that he was brainwashed, when really he wasn't entirely. Daniel never realized that.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David finds someone on his doorstep that he never thought he'd see. Someone asking for help, for a place to stay, and a story that makes his heart break.

I’d been getting ready for bed when I heard a knock on the door. Who would possibly be here at this hour? It was 10:30, and my friends knew that I went to bed early on weekdays so I got enough sleep to wake up bright and early for the morning shift at the daycare where I worked. I didn’t have the earliest shift, but I still had to be there by seven. I walked over to the door, already in my pajamas, utterly confused as to who it could be, and when I opened it, I honestly didn’t believe what I was seeing.

Because there stood Max, my most cynical and sarcastic camper at Camp Campbell, looking as if he’d traveled through hell and back. His eyes didn’t have their spark of mischief that I’d always seen, and he appeared to be favoring one leg, as if he’d been injured. He had a dark blue backpack on that looked full, so I immediately assumed he’d run away. I knew he didn’t have a great home life, but it must be bad if he, the most closed off kid I’d ever met, was reaching out to me, the person he'd always claimed was just an annoyance.

“Max, why are you- Never mind, come inside.”

Wordlessly, he followed me into my apartment. I had no idea what I was going to do with him. I only had a one bedroom apartment. I supposed I could sleep on the pullout couch, he could have the bed. I sat down on the couch and patted the spot next to me. He flinched slightly, but came over to the couch, dropping his backpack on the floor by his feet and sat a little ways away from me.

“What brings you here, Max? You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“What do you fucking think, David? You already know my home life is shit. I just- I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to get out of there.”

He sounded defeated and exhausted, and I saw tears well up in his eyes. I reached over and gave him a hug, because I could tell he needed it. He flinched again, but didn’t fight out of it. He just sunk into my arms, and as if he couldn’t keep himself together for another second, let waterfalls of tears flow down his face, onto his hoodie and my pajama top. I’d never really seen him cry before, he always got his emotions out through anger, so whatever had happened to him must have been really bad. I tried to comfort him, and didn’t say anything else, so he took the opportunity to open up.

He told me about how he was injured after his mother threw a bottle at him, and he tried to remember my address because he said I was one of the only adults that had ever cared about him. I didn’t know how to feel about that. Sad, mostly, that he didn’t have anyone there for him. He deserved to have someone who cared about him. He went on, telling me through tears how he met Daniel, the cultist who had tried to sacrifice all of the campers last summer, at the bus station, but said he was too stupid to recognize it was him until too late. I reassured him and told him he wasn’t stupid, he must have had so much to think about that it wasn’t at the forefront of his mind to try to identify the stranger until he realized what was happening wasn’t just out of kindness. I told him he was brave after he explained how he fought off Daniel and hid in a convenience store. I understood why he was so exhausted after he told me about how far he walked and how he had tried four apartment buildings looking for me. And when he looked up at me with his light blue-green eyes full of fear and sadness, and asked if he could stay with me, I said the only thing I could.

“Of course you can stay with me, Max. I care about you, and you’ll always be safe here.”

I thought that I’d said something wrong for a second, as he started crying even harder, but as he buried his head in my arms, I heard his muffled response.

“Thanks, David. I know I’m a little shit sometimes, but I care about you too.”

I smiled and looked down at the small boy in my arms. I’d been worried about his home life ever since he got to camp four years ago, and I’ll admit that I’d thought about bringing up that he could stay with me whenever something happened with his parents, but I always stopped myself because I was afraid of pushing him away. I was honestly surprised that in the end, it was him reaching out to me and not the other way around, though I was immensely happy that he felt safe enough around me to do so. We stayed on the couch for a little while like that, me gently rubbing circles in his back and him crying the events of the day, or maybe the events of his life in general, out until finally, he stilled and seemed to have either stopped crying or fallen asleep.

Now that the situation had de-escalated, I felt panic start to take over. Max was injured. He could need stitches, or it could already be infected. He’d been impaled with a shard of dirty glass and had been walking around all day with a wound covered by gauze and bandage tape. That should’ve been the first thing that I’d worried about, not his emotional state! Though his emotional state was important, I needed to make sure he wasn’t going to get worse physically. I tapped his shoulder to try to wake him up if he had fallen asleep, and he violently flinched. I guess he was awake then.

“Hey Max, do you mind if I take a look at your leg? I want to make sure it’s not infected, and see if we might need to take you to the hospital to get stitches.”

“I don’t want you to take me to a hospital. I fucking hate hospitals.”

“Well can I at least look at the injury then? I do know first aid, it was suggested that counselors take a class in it to work at the camp.”

“Fine. Where’s your bathroom, I’m going to go change into the shorts I brought because you can’t get to it if I have these jeans on.”

“It’s through the door closest to the kitchen.”

He grabbed his backpack and wandered off towards the bathroom. I could tell he was limping a little bit. I really hoped I wouldn’t have to take him to the hospital, since he seemed to dislike them so much, but it all rested on how bad the wound looked. Once he was in the bathroom, I pulled out my phone and wrote up a quick email to my boss telling them that I wouldn’t be in for the next few days because of a family emergency. I didn’t like lying to them, but I couldn’t exactly tell them what happened, as I’m pretty sure it was kind of illegal to be keeping Max in my apartment for the time being, so I wanted as few people to know Max was with me as possible. It was just in case his mother issued a missing person report, which I didn’t think would happen, from what Max had told me about her, but was still a small possibility. If there was a search out for him, and they found him all the way across the city with me, it would look suspiciously kidnap-y. The one person I did want to tell was Gwen, but I figured it was probably better to wait until I had enough time to call her, as texting her news like this may not be the best idea. 

As long as I focused on other things, I could avoid panicking about the fact that I had a ten-year-old in my apartment who was under my care, for the indefinite future, however long that may end up being, and I have no idea how to parent. I figured it couldn’t be that much different from taking care of the kids at camp, except there was only one of him, I had to figure out meals and things for him, he was living in my house, and there was no camp budget, just my rather small savings. So maybe it was a lot different than camp. I’d get through it, and I’d try to do it with enthusiasm, because he’d come to me, out of all people, for help and love and a place to stay, and I was going to try my hardest to give him all of those things. Because somebody fucking has to. 

He came out of the bathroom in a pair of shorts that just looked like old jeans messily cut off above the knee. One leg of the shorts was pushed up to reveal a large square of gauze haphazardly taped to his skin with bandage tape. Towards the middle of the white square, there was a small blossom of dark red. That wasn’t good, if it had bled through the gauze, it probably opened up at some point during his journey, if it had started to heal at all. He walked over to me and sat on the floor against the couch.

“Look, just, be careful, alright? It hurts, like a lot because I’ve been on it all day, and most of the day has been too filled with adrenaline to focus on it so even though it’s probably better than it was earlier, it hurts a fucking lot now that I’m focusing on it.”

I joined him sitting on the floor and gently pulled one side of the bandage tape off, him hissing as I took some of the hair on his leg with it. I started to pull the gauze off his leg, but stopped when I realized the drying blood had stuck it to the wound. Max was not going to like this.

“Max, the gauze is stuck to your leg because of the blood on it, so I’m going to get a washcloth and try to get it unstuck.”

He mumbled something that I couldn’t make out except for the fact that it included swear words, so I assumed he was commenting on the pain. I got up and made my way to the bathroom, wetting a washcloth with warm water before returning to where he was sitting.

“I’m not going to lie to you, this is probably going to sting quite a bit because I may end up touching the wound itself while trying to get the gauze unstuck.”

He sighed and tried to get a hold of himself as I started to softly pat the dried blood with the wet washcloth, slowly getting the gauze unstuck, while talking to try to help distract him from the experience.

“Hey there kiddo, just try to focus on my voice. Everything is going to be okay. It may hurt now, but don’t worry, this isn’t going to last very long. Soon I’ll get it unstuck and then I promise I won’t touch your wound again unless it’s absolutely necessary. You’re going to be alright.”

I continued to babble soft encouragements at him while cleaning the wound. He seemed to be taking it rather well, or at least a lot better than any other kid would, though Max is not like other kids. His face was all scrunched up and he was mumbling something unintelligible, though every so often when the cloth would touch a particularly tender spot, he’d let out a small cry of pain. Finally, I finished cleaning the wound and pulled the other pieces of bandage tape off his leg, freeing the gauze from his skin.

“Max, look, you made it! I’m all finished cleaning the blood off. You were so brave throughout that whole thing. I’m proud of you.”

“Oh, shut up and just tell me how bad it is.” 

I briefly wondered if him returning to his old state of sarcastic and cynical was a sign that he was feeling better, or just a defense mechanism, but knew now wasn’t the time to worry about such things. I quickly started to examine his wound. It was a pretty large gash, about two inches long, and maybe an inch deep. That wasn’t good. I remembered from my first aid course that if a laceration was more than half an inch deep, the wounded person should be taken to the hospital so a doctor could seal it up. At least it didn’t look infected.

“Well, we have good news and bad news. Good news is that it’s probably not infected, so that’s a good job on your part for bandaging it up well so nothing could get in it!”

“What’s the bad news?” His tone was completely deadpan, but his eyes showed the fear that he was trying not to convey.

“The bad news is that it’s deep enough to require me to take you to the hospital. I’m sorry, I know you don’t want to go, but if we don’t, you’re just going to keep losing blood, and the sooner we go, the less likely it will get infected or get any worse.”

His eyes started to well up with tears and I put an arm around him, trying to comfort him. I didn’t know why he hated hospitals so much, but I wanted to let him know I was there for him.

“It’s going to be okay, kiddo. We can get through this. We won’t be there for very long, just long enough for a doctor to heal you up, and I promise you, if they make you stay the night, I will be there the whole time. I won’t leave you there alone.”

“David, you fucking idiot, that’s not why I don’t want to go. I mean, that’s part of it, I’ve been left alone in hospitals before when I got sick and nobody was there for me, but I know you wouldn’t leave me there. My real concern is how the fuck we’re going to explain all of this. There’s no good way to play this off. A child and a man who is definitely not his father come into the hospital this late at night, with the kid having a wound that’s hours old? There’s no way to explain that without putting tons of suspicion on you or getting her called or getting me shipped off to foster care who knows where. I can’t bullshit my way out of this one.”

Oh. I hadn’t thought of that. Now that he put it into words, it would be pretty suspicious. I was too busy focusing on the concrete things to look at the abstract. I just knew he needed medical care, and didn’t even think about how I was going to explain any of it. And I’m terrible at lying. But I knew someone who was really good at it.

“Okay, I have a plan. I’m going to call Gwen and tell her what happened.”

“How the fresh fuck is that going to fix anything?”

“Gwen’s great at making things up, she does it for a living when she’s not at camp! She’ll help us figure out what to say.”

“Wait, what do you mean she lies for a living?”

“I didn’t say that, I said she makes things up, because she’s a writer! She writes short fictional stories for magazines and stuff, among other jobs, during the rest of the year when there’s no camp.”

“Are you sure you want to tell her I’m staying with you?”

“Max, I trust Gwen with every fiber of my being. She wouldn’t tell a soul. But your input matters in this too. I won’t tell her if you don’t want her to know.”

“I mean, I guess I don’t mind you telling her, since she can help us and all. But nobody else. You and Gwen are the only ones allowed to know I’m here.”

“Okay, Max. I’ll give her a call then. But first, we should bandage your wound back up until we get to the hospital. I’ll go get the first aid kit! I’m lucky that I took the one from camp with me just in case anything happened.”

I grabbed the first aid kit from a drawer in my dresser and returned to the living room. I carefully bandaged Max’s leg back up with some fresh gauze and bandaging tape, with only minimal grumbling from him. 

“Alright, now that that’s all done, do you want to watch a show while I call Gwen? I have a feeling we might end up talking for a little while and I don’t want you to get bored.”

“Sure, I guess.”

I gave him the remote for my TV, and he sarcastically commented at how small and boxy it was, that it was probably older than him, like it was the first time he’d noticed it, even though it had been in front of the couch the entire time. I didn’t blame him for not noticing it though, he’d had a hectic day. As he started to channel surf, I grabbed my phone and went into my room. I had a call to make.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David makes a very important phone call, and Gwen doesn't exactly believe him at first. But once she does, and he's gotten most of his freakout out of his system and onto the phone, she springs into action. Meanwhile, Max pushes David a bit too far with what should've been harmless teasing, and he opens up on a few things he never meant to tell him.

I paced back and forth in my room, trying to figure out what to say to Gwen when I called her, to the sound of whatever too-violent action movie Max was watching in the other room. While I had the urge to go out and tell him that he wasn’t old enough to watch that much senseless violence, I figured after the day he had, he deserved to be able to watch whatever he wanted, even if I didn’t approve of it. After a few minutes of incessant worrying but no ideas on how to present the issue smoothly, I decided to just call her and give it to her straight. I sat down on my bed and dialed her number.

“Hey, David! What are you doing up this late? It’s eleven thirty, shouldn’t you be asleep by now? Or do you not have work tomorrow or something?”

“It’s, uh, complicated. What are you doing right now?”

“Well, I was rewatching some Teen Prison Mom Wars because next season comes out this Thursday and I wanted to make sure I didn’t go into it forgetting what was going on. So I’m not really doing anything, why?”

“Okay, good, I didn’t want to interrupt you if you were doing anything important.”

“Shit, man, what’s up with you? You haven’t sounded this nervous talking to me since you came out to me sophomore year! Wait, is that it? Did you find someone? Are you finally in a relationship? Tell me everything! I want to know all about your new boyfriend or girlfriend so I can analyze their personality and determine if they’re good for you. I just want you to know if they ever lay a finger on you, you tell me and I’ll beat them the fuck up.”

I laughed weakly, of course she’d jump to that conclusion if I really did sound this nervous. I hadn’t exactly had the best luck with romantic relationships, and it had been a long time since I’d been in a serious relationship.

“No, Gwen, you don’t have to beat anyone up. I haven’t found anyone yet. The tinder app has been deleted from my phone, and I’m not even trying to look for a romantic relationship right now. My love life is as dry as ever.”

“Ugh, I haven’t had any good juicy drama in my life in ages. All of my friends are normal, undramatic people who make sensible decisions in life. Sometimes I feel like the only one I know with no impulse control.”

“Gwen, you’re not going to think that when I tell you what happened today. I will be your least normal friend.”

“Oh, David, you’re already my least normal friend. Spill the beans already, I’m dying from anticipation!”

“Are you sitting down right now? Because I have no way to sugarcoat this.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sitting down. What could possibly be going on in your life that’s so insane I’d need to be sitting down?”

“Well, oh god, I can barely believe that it’s going on right now and I’m kind of panicking in the back of my mind because I have no idea what I’m doing, but-“

“Just fucking spit it out!”

“Maxisinmyflatrightnow.”

“What? No way. You’re fucking with me! I didn’t think you had it in you, but you’re actually fucking with me! You’re actually prank calling me in the middle of the night! I’m honestly kind of proud of you, I’ve trained you well in mischief.”

“No, Gwen, he’s actually in my flat. He ran away from home, and he’s here, and I have no idea what to do.”

“Oh my god, you’re serious?”

“Yeah, and I need your help.”

“Holy shit. Give me a minute to process this. Shit, we knew his home life was bad, but bad enough to go to you, the guy he’s been fucking with for the past four summers and vehemently denies he can stand?”

“Gwen, be nice, he’d only been lashing out at me because he needed an outlet for the stress he’d been going through at home.”

“I know, I know, you know I didn’t mean it that way. I’m just surprised you’ve had that much of an impact on him, that he trusts you enough to run away to your house.”

“We’ve had some good bonding moments, especially throughout last summer. He also said that I was one of the only adults who’d ever cared about him. God, I just want to be there for him because nobody else is. But that’s not the biggest thing I’m dealing with right now. Gwen, he’s injured. He ran away after his mother threw a bottle of alcohol at him and a piece got in his leg. I’ve cleaned the wound, and made sure it’s not infected- he did a pretty good job bandaging it up right after it happened, but using what I remember from first aid training, he needs to go to the hospital. Any wound deeper than a half inch should be attended to by a doctor, and his is two inches long and at least an inch deep. I wanted to bring him right away, but he pointed out that we need a good story so we don’t attract suspicion. He’s got a pretty deep wound that he’s had for three or four hours, and he’s going into the hospital with someone who’s not related to him in the middle of the night? If we tell the truth, we’re gonna get CPS called and he’s going to be put into the foster care system, and I don’t want him to be taken away from me. Oh, Gwen, I can’t have him taken away from me. I may not be the most experienced in taking care of a child day-to-day, I may be a single guy in his mid-twenties who has no idea what he’s doing with his life, working at a daycare to make ends meet, but I’ve got to be a parent to Max. I’m not having him taken away and put somewhere where they don’t know how to deal with him. He’s the exact kind of kid I can see bouncing around in the system until he’s eighteen because people are just going to label him a troublemaker when he’s not! He’s such a good kid, you just need to know how to talk to him, how to be there for him, when to give him advice and when to let him just talk at you, when to take what he’s saying as his normal cynicism and when to know something’s wrong. And I know that stuff! Or, at least, I’m learning. I need you to help me come up with a good alibi for the hospital so he’s not taken away before I can figure out how to keep him legally.”

“I’m coming over.”

“What?”

“I’m coming to your house right now, and we’re figuring this whole thing out. It’ll be more credible if I come with you to bring him to the hospital, it’ll be less weird if we seem like a couple than just a random guy bringing in a kid that’s obviously not his in the middle of the night. We’ll do it together, because we’ve done everything worth doing together. And we’re gonna figure out how to get you to be Max’s legal guardian, because goddamn it, he deserves someone who’s gonna fight for him like you will. Like we will. I’ll be at your place in twenty minutes.”

“Gwen, oh, god, what did I do to deserve someone like you in my life? You’re gonna make me cry.”

“Look, you’ve helped me through a lot of shit in my life. I care about you, and I can tell you’d go through hell and back for Max, just like you have for me. So I’m gonna fight for you, so you can fight for him. I’m gonna go now, I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Bye, Gwen. Thank you for this.”

“Don’t thank me yet, I haven’t done anything. Bye, David.”

As soon as she hung up the phone, I put it in my pocket and breathed a sigh of relief. I didn’t know why I had been so nervous, of course I could count on Gwen. We were a team in everything we did together, even though our personalities were vastly different, I always knew she had my back. I was so happy that she was coming over to help. With the enthusiasm she’d displayed in helping Max and I, I’d almost wanted to ask her if she wanted to stay with me long-term, help me be a parent to him, but I didn’t want to try to force her into something she might not want to do. Max had come to me, and he was my responsibility, not anyone else’s. Plus, unlike me, Gwen actually had a social life, and I didn’t want to rip her away from enjoying her twenties to raise a kid. I decided to go tell Max what was going on.

I found him still watching whatever senselessly violent action movie he’d been on when I started the call, or it could’ve been a different one, it was hard to tell. I could tell, however, that Max was using it to try to distract himself from everything that had happened today. I sat down on the couch next to him, and he paused the movie and looked at me, with an expression he was trying to keep neutral, but worry was seeping through the cracks of.

“Hey, kiddo, how are you holding up?”

“Just tell me how badly it went. I could hear the angry tone in your voice over the sound of people getting blown up on the screen, so don’t tell me you two weren’t arguing.”

“Oh, Max, it didn’t go badly at all. I wasn’t angry at her, I was just… scared. I had to vent out all of my fear of you being taken away and ending up somewhere terrible, and she’s always good for that. I promise, everything’s fine.”

I could see hope tentatively showing on his face. I didn’t blame him for getting scared hearing me vent to Gwen earlier, he’d probably heard a lot of fights in his house. I wanted to give him a hug, but I could tell the defensiveness I’d always seen in him at camp had returned, and he’d probably start cursing and fighting his way out of it if I tried.

“She’s actually on her way over now! She had a really great idea that if we showed up with you together, it would seem less weird than if I took you there myself. She’ll be here in about twenty minutes.”

“What? Why? Are you two dating or something? There’s no way she’d just drop whatever she was doing to help me unless she’s trying to get in your pants.”

I felt my entire face go pink. He really knew how to get to me.

“Uh, no, Max, we’re not dating. There’s nothing going on between us.” I sighed, thinking of all I’d been through with her. “It’s just, when you’ve been best friends with someone for ten years, and something happens to them that you think you can help them with, you go and help them through it. We’ve both gone through hell and back for each other, this is nothing to her. Well, it was a bit of a surprise. She didn’t believe me at first that you were here. She actually thought I was prank calling her!”

Max stared at me like I had three heads.

“Holy shit. You’re in love with her. Oh my god, of course you are. How didn’t I see it before this? I knew there had to be a reason you kept her around for four years even though she’s so shit at being a counselor!”

“Hey! She’s a great counselor! Also, I am not in love with her! I told you, there’s nothing going on between us. Just friends.”

“Yeah, you keep yourself in denial, with your lovey-dovey eyes when talking about your “best friend of ten years.” Also, holy fuck, you guys have known each other for ten years? And you haven’t driven each other batshit insane yet?” 

“I do not have lovey-dovey eyes, thank you very much. And yes, we met freshman year of high school. I transferred school districts, so I was new there and didn’t know anyone. I found her one day skipping class, she threatened to beat me up, and we became friends. Even though our personalities were pretty radically different, we kind of just became a team after that. David and Gwen against the world, or at least against the rest of the school. We even went to the same college together, Sleepy Peak Community College, because it had both of our majors, and it was close by. I roped her into being a counselor with me after the last counselor had a bear accident and didn’t want to come back. She started going to camp the same year you did! Just, as a counselor and not a camper.”

“Okay, one, you have it so fucking bad for her, man, I don’t know how you don’t see it. And two, if you met her while she was skipping class, what were you doing out of class? The David I know is too much of a pussy to have skipped class. Did you actually go through a phase of being a rebel in high school? Because god, I’d like to see that.”

I should not have told him that. I really didn’t want to explain why I was actually out of class that day.

“No, um, it’s complicated, and I don’t want to talk about it. And I don’t have it bad for her! We’re. Just. Friends.”

I was starting to get a little exasperated with him. Okay, maybe I had a little bit of a crush on Gwen, but I’d long accepted that she wasn’t into me, and I knew I wasn’t nearly as obvious about it as Max was making it seem. He was just taking the fact that we had been friends for a really long time, and both cared deeply about each other, and twisting it into some sort of romance.

“Oh, I knew it! You were actually a little rebel in high school! Ooh, ooh, were you punk? Or even better, emo? Shit, this is hilarious! I keep trying to picture a little emo David, dressed in all black and cutting class to go smoke cigarettes that he hated the taste of, but did to look cool. Emo David, writing shitty poetry to cope with his feelings. Is that when you learned the guitar? Did you do it to show girls how sensitive and mysterious you were, singing about your emotions? This is great. Now I know why you never talk about your teenage years.”

Max was absolutely cackling, and I knew it wasn’t his fault, but it was really getting to me. I didn’t like to talk about that part of my life for a reason. Before I could stop myself, I snapped at him.

“No, Max, I wasn’t emo! I was really fucking bipolar, okay? I was out of class that day because I’d had a breakdown in the middle of the lesson and ran out! That’s why I don’t talk about being a teenager, because I was always either obsessively happy, desperate to keep up a mask that was full of cracks, or super depressed, crying about nothing because I bottled up my feelings when I was manic and they all came crashing down once I got in a bad episode. Gwen was there that day, and she was there for me through all of high school whenever it got too bad. That’s what I meant when I said she’s been through hell and back for me. We care about each other because we’ve seen each other at our worst points and helped each other back up from those points. So even if I was in love with her, I’m not going to sacrifice the life-saving friendship I have with her for a dumb crush!”

I could feel tears pricking in my eyes and saw Max’s shocked and scared face and lost it.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you. Oh, Max, I’m so sorry, I’m just scared and stressed and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you and I thought I got it out on the phone with her, but I didn’t. I didn’t mean to yell at you, I’ve screwed everything up, I’m so sorry, Max. God, I couldn’t even go a few hours without snapping, what am I doing?”

I dissolved into tears, putting my head in my hands because I didn’t want to see the hurt on his face. I really screwed up. That was years ago, I shouldn’t be so sensitive about it still. I heard a small voice, cautious in its tone.

“Are you doing better now?”

I lifted my head from my hands, confused. Max didn’t look scared anymore, he looked concerned, and almost guilty? What did he have to be guilty about when it was me who snapped at him?

“What do you mean?”

He hesitated for a second, as if trying to put the words together so they sounded right.

“You said it was really bad back then. Has it gotten any better? I know these things don’t go away completely, and I know you’ve had moments where it’s gotten bad at camp and you didn’t want us to see it, but are you doing okay?”

That was… not the response I was expecting from him. I didn’t expect him to be so mature about it. I didn’t expect him to put my feelings before his when I’d just snapped at him for what should’ve been harmless teasing. A tiny smile emerged onto my face, even though I was still crying a little.

“Yes, I am. Thank you, Max. Once I got out on my own, as an adult, I was able to get a therapist and some medication and it’s been really helping. You’re right, I still do have days where I’m not at my best, and I’m not surprised you’ve picked up on them before, but I’m recovering. I’m getting there. I’m sorry I snapped at you for what should’ve been harmless teasing. This day’s been pretty rough, and I’m still scared I’m going to lose you, though I’m sure it’s been more rough on you than it has on me. I shouldn’t have taken my emotions out on you.”

“I forgive you, I was kind of provoking you and being a little shit. I should’ve stopped fucking with you when I could see it was starting to get to you. Don’t worry, I won’t tease you too much about your “dumb crush” on Gwen.”

I sighed and let my head fall back onto the couch, a small laugh escaping out of me. Oh, Max. He certainly was something. 

“Do you want to watch the rest of this senselessly violent action movie to take our minds off of things for a little bit until Gwen gets here?”

“Hell yeah, I do. I’m honestly surprised you’re letting me watch this.”

“I probably shouldn’t be, this has to be rated R with all of the blood and swearing in it, but I can make an exception. We’ve both had a long day.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gwen arrives, and David is incredibly grateful for her help. The three of them go to the hospital, and after things go down, Gwen makes an important decision.

Max was cackling and I was covering my eyes with my hands (but still watching) as deafening explosions sounded on the screen and blood splattered everywhere as people were violently blown up. This was definitely not suitable for children. But Max seemed to be enjoying it, though it seemed that half of his joy was from how squeamish I was. Every time I cringed as someone was viciously killed in the movie he’d picked, he’d laugh at my reaction. Honestly, that was part of why I hadn’t turned it off as soon as I realized how bloody the film was, it was nice to see Max genuinely happy about something, even if that happiness was at my expense. Nonetheless, I was incredibly relieved to hear the doorbell chime, for more reasons than one. I paused the movie and looked over at Max. He now seemed slightly nervous, which made me sad because it was only Gwen, someone I trusted with all of my heart, and that I knew he should too, but I knew he didn’t trust easily. 

“I bet that’s Gwen!”

“Yeah. Look, I’m sorry for provoking you about her.”

“Max, it’s okay. We went over this, it’s not your fault, and I shouldn’t have snapped back at you. You were just trying to lighten things up.”

He looked more reassured at this, like he was expecting some kind of punishment for what had happened, which I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had.

“Alright, go greet your girlfriend.”

I blushed bright pink.

“Can you please not say anything about it to her?”

“Yeah, sure. I’m an asshole, but that would be overstepping, even for me.”

“Max, you’re not an asshole. Also, watch your language.”

“If I had known all I needed to do to get you to curse was call myself an asshole, I would’ve done it a while ago!”

“Ugh, you know that didn’t count as me swearing.”

“Whatever, go let your soulmate in before she leaves.”

“Max!”

I walked off after that, and threw the door open. Sure enough, Gwen was standing there with an overnight bag at her feet, and I gave her a huge hug.

“Gwen! I’m so glad you’re here! It feels like it’s been ages since I last saw you!”

“It’s been two weeks, you clingy shit, but I’m glad to see you too. Now, where’s our little demon?”

I pulled her into my apartment, where Max was sitting on the couch, watching the two of us.

“Hey Satan, how’s it going?”

He gave a small smile to her nickname for him.

“Oh, you know, generally shitty. I assume David filled you in on the whole story of how I ended up here?”

“Yeah, he did. Look, I’m sure he already gave you this speech, but I just want to let you know we’re going to fight tooth and nail to keep you here, and kick anyone’s ass who tries to take you away from us. You two little shits are lucky to have me here, because I’ve crafted the *perfect* alibi for us to get you to the hospital without suspicion, and it doesn’t even require us to commit too many crimes!”

Max and I replied to this at the same time.

“Aw, I want us to commit as many crimes as we can get away with!”

“We’re going to be committing crimes?”

Gwen laughed at our objections.

“Well, I don’t have a law degree, so I’m not entirely sure how legal lying to hospital staff is, but that should be the only one we have to commit, unless things go sour and we need to take you out of the hospital before they’ll legally let us, which shouldn’t happen. Preferably. David, do you have health insurance?”

“Yes! It’s included in my job.”

“Where do you work? I never really thought of the two of you having jobs outside of camp, and now I know Gwen does writing and other stuff, but you never mentioned anything about work.”

“Well, Max, I work at a daycare!”

“Of course you fucking do. As if that is not the most David thing besides being a fucking park ranger or something.”

“Actually, I did go to college for biology because I wanted to be a park ranger. But that’s pretty far down the road, right now I’m just focusing on what I can get. Plus, the daycare lets me take off the summers to work at camp, which I’m really happy about!”

Max just gave a long sigh, and Gwen shot him a sarcastically sympathetic look, like she was saying “This is what I have to deal with when you’re not at camp.”

“Hey, you two can’t be teaming up against me already!”

“Too late, we already have. Max and I are going to make your life hell.”

“As if you don’t already, Gwen.”

“Fair. Now let's talk about our plan to get this little shit to the hospital.”

“Do I have to?”

“Do you want to slowly bleed out and die?”

Max didn’t say anything to that. Gwen started explaining our master plan, which consisted of pretending that she and I were an engaged couple, pulling out an engagement ring that she’d bought from a thrift store a few years ago because she thought it was cool. We were friends of Max’s parents, avid travelers who’d gone on a trip to Brazil to hike the Serra do Imeri mountains for two months, and left us in charge of Max. We lived nearby, so he could still go to the same school and everything. We’d gotten a letter from them that their cell phone had been smashed in an accident, and that they were working on getting a new one and would give us a call once they got one. So they were completely uncontactable for now. Earlier today, he had taken the bus back to his house to get something after school without us knowing. He knocked over a vase and fell onto it getting a shard in his leg. He’d bandaged it and come back, not thinking it was bad, but once we had seen it, we insisted we take him to the hospital. Hopefully, they wouldn’t ask too many questions, but if they did, Gwen assured me that she would do all of the talking. Mostly because I can’t lie to save my life.

Max almost seemed impressed with Gwen’s ability to make up such a complex but convincing story. Since neither of us had any issues with Gwen’s plan, we headed out immediately. We took the bus that took us nearest to the hospital and made it there without a problem. We headed up to the ER’s waiting room, where Gwen started filling out some paperwork she was given, and I sat down with Max.

“You doing okay, kiddo?”

“What the fuck do you- oh. Yeah, I guess. It doesn’t hurt too bad, I don’t know why you guys insisted on taking me here. I got it out by myself and everything.”

I didn’t change much about my tone or words to fit the story, not really needing to, but Max had thrown himself in. His tone was a lot less harsh than normal, and there was no swearing once he’d realized what was going on. It was almost like he was pretending to be a normal ten-year-old. That made me kind of sad, as I didn’t want Max to have to pretend to be more approachable, but I understood that it would probably help us if he acted childlike. Gwen even chimed in, adding to our fake conversation, even though the waiting room was nearly empty and no one was listening.

“Max, you should’ve told one of us where you were going. You could’ve gotten a lot more hurt than you did, I don’t know what you were thinking, going on the buses by yourself.”

“Sorry I just wanted to feel independent for once. You guys never let me do anything.”

“Honey, Max, we can talk about this at home.”

I felt myself blush at calling Gwen a pet name, but if we were supposed to be engaged, I felt like it was probably the right thing to do. Max broke character and looked at me like I had three heads. Gwen only smiled, finishing up the paperwork. We waited for what seemed like hours, but was closer to about twenty minutes, before we were called by a nurse. I gave Gwen a look of encouragement, as it was her time to shine. The nurse took us into an examination room and Gwen handed her the paperwork she’d filled out.

“Hi, I’m Molly, and I’ll be your nurse for tonight. Now, what brings the three of you in?”

“Well, my fiancé, David, and I, have been looking after Max for the past two weeks. We’re good friends of his parents, and since all of his aunts and uncles live out of state, his parents entrusted him in our care because they’re out hiking the Serra do Imeri mountains. They’re avid travelers, so this isn’t the first time Max has come to stay with us for a little while. But today, after school, Max went back to his home by himself to get some things he’d left, without telling us. While he was there, he tripped over a side table with a vase on it, breaking the vase and falling onto the pieces. He got one stuck in his leg, but pulled it out and bandaged it up while he was there.”

“He pulled a shard of glass out of his leg and bandaged up the wound by himself?”

“It didn’t look that bad, plus we just learned first aid in health class. It didn’t even hurt that much, they’re just overreacting.”

“Okay, about what time was the injury acquired?”

The nurse asked Max directly, causing Gwen and I to share a nervous look.

“Uh, about seven thirty I think. I stay after school some days because I do soccer, and practice doesn’t get out until seven. So yeah, seven thirty or eight-ish.”

The words rolled off of Max’s tongue like they were nothing. I realized that I had no idea if they were true or not. I didn’t know if Max played soccer. It didn’t seem like his thing, but I didn’t really know a lot about Max’s life when I thought about it.

“Can you roll up your shorts so I can see the bandage?”

“Yeah, sure.”

She examined the bandaging, and I got nervous that maybe I’d done too good of a job. That she wouldn’t believe Max had done it. But if she was thinking that, she didn’t say anything. She gently pulled off the bandage and looked at Max’s wound.

“That’s going to need stitches. You two were right to take him here, it’s too deep. It wouldn’t have healed on its own, at least not for a while. I’m surprised you were able to make it home with this, you must have a high pain tolerance.”

“I guess. I mean, I just took the bus home once I got what I needed. It didn’t require that much effort.”

“Well, I’d say you were lucky to come out of that experience with only this. Let me get the doctor in here, and she’ll explain what we’ll do.”

The nurse left, leaving the three of us alone.

“Do you actually play soccer?”

“Do I look like the type of person to be involved in sports, David?”

“I don’t know, Max, you’ve never really told us what kind of things you’re interested in.”

“Yeah, because my hobbies are dumb and embarrassing.”

“No hobby is dumb, Max. What is it that you like to do?”

“I told you, it’s stupid! Why would I want you two to know? I’m already uncool enough, if I find out you like it too, I’ll die.”

“Alright, Max. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“Fine. I like to cook, and bake. I was also into knitting that one time we did it at camp, but I haven’t done it since, because where am I going to get the money for that shit? Plus I’ve probably already forgotten how by now.”

Gwen and I both wore looks of surprise, and it was her who piped up first.

“I can teach you again if you want. I really like knitting, it helps me relax. Of course, you probably already knew that, it was me who headed knitting camp.”

“Oh yeah, now I remember that. I called you an old lady, and you threatened to stab me in the eye with a knitting needle. Sure, might be fun, I guess. What about you, David, going to declare your undying love for baking and make me never want to do it again?”

“Actually, I’m terrible at baking. Even if I’m just making a cake from a box, I still manage to mess it up. I like cooking, but it’s more of something that I do so I’m not eating ramen and frozen meals all the time like Gwen does.”

“Hey, don’t bring my questionable diet into this! I don’t only eat ramen and frozen meals, I get takeout a bunch too! Okay, that doesn’t really make things any better, does it?”

“Man, I really expected you to be into baking. Probably because it seems like you exist to embarrass me, and that’s the one thing I’m most self-conscious about. You two are kinda the only people besides her that know I bake.”

“Max, it shouldn’t be something you feel bad about! You should be proud of your hobbies! That’s what Camp Campbell was supposed to be all about, embracing the things you love and being able to show them off to others. I wish I’d known sooner, I would’ve made a baking camp, or at least a cooking one.”

“Well I’m sorry I don’t want to look as outwardly lame as Nerris, or as nerdy as Neil. My thing there is not having a thing. I’m supposed to be the mysterious asshole who hates everything. That’s my activity. That’s who I’ve been for the past four years at camp. I can’t exactly flip my reputation around and start caring about something.”

“Well, why not? People can change, Max, they can grow.”

“I, uh, fuck. I’ll think about it, okay? It’s a long time until next summer anyway.”

After that, we just waited in silence, but it wasn’t too long until a doctor came in. She introduced herself as Dr. Dehaan, and told us she was going to take Max to be X-Rayed, just to make sure there wasn’t any glass left in his body. The two of them left, leaving just Gwen and I alone in the exam room. 

“Are you going to go home after we get out of here?”

“Of course not, you saw that I brought an overnight bag. I’m staying over whether you like it or not.”

“I didn’t even notice. Today’s been so insane, I’ve barely been able to focus.”

“How are you doing with everything?”

“The panic hasn’t fully set in yet. God, Gwen, I don’t know what to do with him. I don’t know how to be a parent. I mean, I guess the next step is to try to get legal custody of him, so we can send him to school and all of that stuff. I don’t even know if he’d be staying at the same school, or if there’s one closer. I don’t know anything. I took the next few days off work, told my boss it was a family emergency. This seems like the definition of a family emergency to me. Becoming a family, by means of an emergency. Probably not what they thought I was saying, but I kind of doubt I’ll tell them the specifics. God, what’s going to happen when I have my first depressive episode in front of Max? He knows about my bipolar, by the way. He kinda started joking about my teenage years while you were on my way, and insinuated that I must have been emo and embarrassed about it because I didn’t want to talk about those years of my life. And I, uh, I snapped at him. I couldn’t even go a couple hours without snapping with him in my apartment. How am I going to do this all the time? Don’t get me wrong, I want to. I want nothing more than to be able to be Max’s parent. But I just don’t know how I’m going to do it.”

“Hey, it’s gonna be okay. You’ve dealt with him for the past four years at camp. You know how he works. You care about him, goddamn it. You’re gonna get through this. I already know, you’ll be a great parent.”

“Thanks, Gwen. You’re gonna make me cry.”

“You better not.”

“It’s been a long day, I need to get my emotions out somehow.”

“You little shit, you better wait until we get home to fall apart like this. You still need to uphold your half of this act, fiancé.”

We both smiled and she rolled her eyes. I really wasn’t acting any differently when playing her fiancé. That was mostly because I’d barely said anything, but I liked to think we were such close friends, that I didn’t even need to act any different. Soon enough, Max and Dr. Dehaan came back into the room.

“Well, you three are very lucky. There’s nothing in the wound. It’ll still require stitching, but once I put them in, the sutures should be able to come out in a week. That’s not bad at all. Now, all I’m going to do is inject a local anesthetic near the wound, so Max here won’t feel a thing when I stitch it up. Let me go grab it, it’s in the other room.”

Max stared at the two of us with pure fear in his eyes after hearing this.

“Max, are you doing okay?”

He whispered something we were barely able to hear.

“I hate needles.”

Gwen and I went over to his side while the doctor left to get the anesthetic. Max looked like he was about to cry, and I was freaking out a little bit too, because I also can’t stand needles and had no idea how to comfort him. Gwen took over though, I’d never seen her go into mom mode like this before, but she immediately knew how to calm him down.

“Look, Max, it’s all going to be just fine. What you’re going to do when she gets back is grab onto my hand as hard as you can and look straight at me while she does it. You’ll barely notice what’s going on.”

He nodded and tried not to start crying, and within a minute, the doctor came back. Max immediately grabbed onto Gwen’s hand and stared into her eyes, and right before the needle was about to go in, she told him to count to ten out loud. As the doctor gave him the anesthetic, he screwed his eyes shut and counted out loud, and by the time he’d gotten to seven, she was done.

“Are you doing alright, Max?”

He just nodded, looking incredibly grateful of Gwen’s presence. 

“Okay, now that that’s all done, I’m just going to clean the wound up a little, and then I’ll stitch it up and you’ll be good to go!”

The doctor seemed oblivious as to what had happened, though she was probably just trying not to call attention to it.

“Max, you’re probably going to keep looking at David and I, you’re not going to want to watch this. Everything’s going to turn out just fine.”

“Yeah, this isn’t going to take very long at all, and then you can come home and we can go to bed. And you know what? We’re all going to sleep in for as long as we want, because you are not going back to school tomorrow.”

He looked confused for a second, and then remembered the act. We knew he’d been suspended, so he wouldn’t be going back to school even if he hadn’t been injured, but I didn’t feel the need to give that information to strangers. We all needed a good long night of sleep. Gwen and I continued talking to Max as the doctor finished up the sutures, and it didn’t take long until she was all done.

“There we go! All better. You three are free to go, I just need to give one of you instructions on how to care for the wound.”

Gwen went over and talked to the doctor while I helped Max down from the examination table.

“Ugh, my leg feels even weirder to walk on now than it did before.”

“Don’t worry, it’s not a far walk to the bus station. If you want, I can carry you.”

“Absolutely fucking not.”

I laughed at his expression of pure malice.

“Max, language!”

“Alright, come on you two, I’ve gotten my orders on how to tend to your wound, let’s get out of here.”

Max and I followed Gwen out of the hospital. I honestly couldn’t believe it had all worked. We had gotten in and out without raising any suspicion.

“Gwen, that was amazing. You told the whole story back there like it was the most natural thing to you. It didn’t sound rehearsed at all.”

“Thanks, dude. What can I say, I’m a freelance writer, I’ve learned to bend the truth and tell a good story.”

“Yeah, that was pretty fucking cool.”

“Max, watch your language.”

“Fuck.”

I rolled my eyes and Gwen laughed.

“Okay, whatever. It’s been a long night, if you want to swear, I’m not going to stop you.”

“Hell yeah. Wait, that takes the fun out of it!”

This time, I joined Gwen in her laughter. We reached the bus station and took the bus home. Once we got up to my apartment, we tried to figure out sleeping arrangements. There were two beds, one in my bedroom and one pull-out couch. We bickered for a few minutes about who would be sleeping with who, and it was eventually settled that Max would take the pull-out couch, and Gwen and I would take my bed. The three of us all got ready for bed, and as Gwen was changing in my room, I checked on Max and made sure he was doing okay.

“Do you have everything you need? Do you want more pillows, or blankets?”

“I’m fine, David. Now go fuck your girlfriend. You’re sharing a bed for a reason.”

“Max! Don’t say things like that!”

He just laughed.

“Oh, the expression on your face. Absolutely fucking priceless. Also, your whole face is red now. Might want to do something about that.”

I sighed, knowing the redness would go away in a minute or two anyways.

“You’re sure you’re all good?”

“Yeah, I am. Thanks, David. For all of this.”

“Max, at the risk of you yelling at me for being too sappy, I’ll just say that I’m so glad you’re here.”

“I’m really happy to be here, even if I don’t act like it. Have to keep up my reputation somehow.”

“Good night, Max. Sleep well.”

“Good night, David.”

I walked over to my room and knocked on the door, unsure if Gwen was still changing or not. She let me in, and I flopped onto the bed.

“You know, that was the coolest thing I’ve seen you do. When you just went into mom mode and knew exactly how to comfort Max when he said he was scared of needles.”

“Thanks, I used to be really scared of needles, and that was how my mom would always distract me whenever I’d have to get vaccinated.”

“I’m still a little scared of needles. They just freak me out.”

“That’s fair. I didn’t really like them before this, but something in me just overrode that today. It’s like I just knew Max’s comfort was more important than mine and was suddenly able to deal with it. He’s a pretty brave kid. He went through a lot today.”

“Yeah, I don’t know what I’m going to do without you here.”

“Well, I’ve been meaning to ask, do you want me to stay with you for a while and help you care for Max? I get it if you don’t, but the lease on my apartment is coming up soon, and I just thought maybe you could use the help. Plus, we’ve talked about being roommates someday since we were in high school.”

“Gwen, of course I would! But this is something you want to do, right? I don’t want you to pack up your whole life and move in with me if you don’t one-hundred percent want this.”

“David, I absolutely want this. I care about you and Max, and I want to be there for both of you.”

“Oh, Gwen, now you’re really going to make me cry. I’m so happy you want to come live here with me. We’ll figure out all of the details in the morning. For now, I feel like I’m going to pass out.”

“Man, I feel exactly the same way. Let’s get the fuck into bed and sleep for hours and hours.”

So we went to bed, and were both out like a light within seconds of turning the lamp off. Tomorrow would be a good day. We’d start figuring everything out for long-term living together, all three of us, and we’d all have the day off to have a little bit of much-needed relaxation. But for now, all we needed was sleep. So we slept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is the end of The Flight Of Max! I hoped you all liked it. This is actually part of a series I'm working on, with fics that are snapshots of the lives of David, Gwen, and Max as they are portrayed in this fic. There are pieces that take place both before and after this one, and they all fit together to tell one larger story. So check those out if you'd like!


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